There's No Guarantee That This Will Be Easy
by N.S.Bennett
Summary: Darrel Curtis and Rosaline Bates have been together since they were eighteen. But is real life anything like what they had hoped? Or will they find that life is not exactly easy...
1. Young Heart Confusing My Mind

The Curtis house was in an uproar. Mrs Curtis was in the kitchen trying to cook dinner while her husband was on the upstairs landing trying to restraint Darry who was about to pound both of his brothers because neither of them would stop teasing him about the fact that he had a girlfriend who was on her way over for dinner.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Mr Curtis shouted, causing his younger sons to stop immediately. "Now, both of you set the table for your mom." Once they were gone he released his eldest son. "Don't listen to them. She's the first girl you've brought home and they're excited. If this girl really loves you, she'll understand. If she has brothers, she'll definitely understand." He chuckled and Darry sighed and nodded. There was a knock at the door and he raced down there, nearly falling on the way, to get there before his brothers. He opened it and smiled widely.

"Hi Rosie."

"Hey. You raced your brothers to the door, didn't you?" She asked and he nodded before standing aside so she could come in. As the door closed behind them, the rest of the Curtis family appeared.

"Um, Rosie, this is my Dad, my Mom and my brothers Sodapop and Ponyboy." Darry introduced.

"Hi. It's so nice to meet you. Darry rarely talks of anyone else." Mrs Curtis said, causing both Darry and Rosie to blush.

"I thought I should bring something, so I've baked a cake. I hope you don't mind." She said, holding up the tin in her hands.

"Not at all. Thank you so much, you didn't have to go to so much trouble."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. I felt I should contribute something since you made dinner for us all."

Lisa smiled. "Well, that's very kind of you." She said, and she took the cake from her hands and took it into the kitchen.

"I've met you before." Rosie said to Sodapop. "You were one of the kids who helped my brother with his flat tyre at the DX."

"I remember." Soda said. "Your brother's really cool."

"Thanks." Rosie smiled but she had a sad look in her eyes.

"Shall we sit down? I think your mother's just about to serve up." Mr Curtis said before Sodapop could speak, guiding Rosie to the dining table, throwing Darry a look over his shoulder.

* * *

The dinner seemed to be going well from Darry's point of view. Rosie had made Ponyboy blush at least once, cracked Sodapop up several times and made an excellent impression on his parents. He smiled as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye while she took a sip of water. "Are you okay?" She asked and he nodded.

"Just thinking how happy I am." He said and she smiled.

"Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination."

"Are you saying I'm insane?" Darry asked and Rosie simply smiled. He grinned and dove in, kissing her cheek.

"Sorry to burst the little bubble we have going on here, but I've just noticed your necklace." Mrs Curtis said and Rosie ran her fingers over the rose on a silver chain that she had around her neck. "Where did you get it?"

"My brother gave it to me. Before he was shipped off to Vietnam." She answered quietly.

"Well, I'm sure he's doing a great service for his country over there." Mr Curtis said.

She smiled sadly up at him. "He was. He was a tunnel rat, meaning he would go into underground tunnels and complete a search and destroy mission. He drowned on his last mission a couple of months ago."

"Honey, I'm sorry." Mrs Curtis said, reaching across and taking her hand. Rosie shrugged.

"He knew what he was doing when he went over there. He died for his country which is what he wanted since we were kids." She smiled. "Sorry, I just brought the tone down."

"No, not at all, I asked." Lisa said. "I feel like this moment deserves cake and ice cream." She said to her youngest son's delight before getting up and heading into the kitchen to serve it up. Rosie stood and cleared all the plates, carrying them into the kitchen after her.

"Did you know about her brother?" Mr Curtis asked his eldest son, who nodded.

"I was there when she got the news. It was hard – I didn't know how to comfort her." Darry shook his head. "She likes talking about him but she doesn't let it take over her life and I think that's quite remarkable."

"It's a shame. I liked her brother. He was tuff." Soda piped up.

"You've been spending too much time with Steve again." Mr Curtis said, raising his eyebrows at his fourteen-year-old son who shrugged and Mr Curtis shook his head. Suddenly the two women reappeared with dessert and they handed it out.

"You okay?" Darry whispered as Rosie sat back down next to him and she nodded.

"I'm okay. It feels better to talk about it."

"I'm sorry, I didn't think they'd ask." He whispered hurriedly and Rosie laughed.

"Darry, it's okay. If the problem can be solved, why worry? If the problem cannot be solved worrying will do you no good." She said, rubbing her hand on the top of his shoulder. "Seriously. Chill, babe, chill. You're starting to get a crease in your forehead."

"Really?"

"Yep. Right there." She smiled, poking the spot just above where his nose started and Darry chuckled. "Relax. I like your family and I like spending time with them. It's all good." She looked at his bowl with wide eyes. "Now eat." She picked up her spoon and dug in. Darry copied her and Mrs Curtis smiled across at her husband.

* * *

"Thank you so much. Everything was delicious." Rosie said as they walked her to the door. It had gotten dark out and so Rosie had called for her uncle to come and pick her up.

"No, thank you for that wonderful cake." Mrs Curtis said and Rosie smiled.

"Can you make it again for my birthday?" Ponyboy asked before anyone could stop him. "It's in two weeks. I'll be twelve."

Rosie raised her eyebrows. "Practically a man. I'll see what I can do." She smiled and Ponyboy blushed all the way to his ears, making Rosie giggle. A car horn sounded outside and she looked over her shoulder before turning back to them. "Thank you again."

"It was our pleasure. Honestly." Mr Curtis smiled before giving his eldest a look.

"I'll see you out." Darry said, opening the door for her and following her through it, closing it behind him. "That went well."

"That went really well. I meant what I said. I like your family and I like spending time with them." She said and Darry smiled before slipping his arm around her waist and pulling her up to his lips. She smiled into the kiss, looping her arms around his neck. The car horn sounded again, making them both laugh.

"Thank you for a wonderful evening, princess."

"Thank you for allowing me to come over Superman." She smiled, pecking his lips briefly before running down to her uncle. She waved before climbing into the car and then it disappeared. Darry watched it go before heading back inside.

"You two are so adorable." His mother said and Darry blushed. "Oh, Darry, she's wonderful. She's absolutely wonderful."

"You like her then?"

"I love her!" She said before stretching up to hug her eldest son who, embarrassedly, hugged her back.

"She's going to make my birthday cake!" Ponyboy said delightedly. "And she said I was practically a man! I like her a lot – is she going to stay Darry?"

Darry looked at his family members before grinning. "Yeah. I think she is."


	2. Two Years Later

It wasn't the telephone call she had ever been expecting. Darry's voice broken and near-hysterical as he tried not to cry in public. The words 'car accident', 'surgery' and 'unsure at the moment' swirled around her head and almost got lost in the screaming in her head. There was no way. There was no way that this could be happening. She jumped on the first bus headed in the right direction and sprinted from the bus stop. She must have looked upset because people dived out of her way. Rosie nearly tripped over the doorframe as she burst into the waiting room at the hospital. Seven heads popped up at the sound and then Darry's arms were around her, holding onto her as if she was the last life jacket on the Titanic. It was in that moment that she realised that this was happening. The two people she had come to see as parents were really in surgery, fighting for their lives after getting into an auto wreck. A loud sob brought her out of her reverie and she pulled back from her hug with Darry to see Ponyboy crying inconsolably. She stepped away from her boyfriend and walked over to his youngest brother, exchanging seats with Sodapop, and gently guided him into her arms. He wrapped his skinny arms around her and cried and cried and cried.

They had been there for hours. A doctor or a nurse would walk past and Darry or Dally or even Two-Bit would look up hopefully, but they were headed for someone else. Ponyboy had cried himself to sleep in Rosie's lap, the backs of her fingers running soothingly down his face. Johnny had folded himself up in his chair. Dallas was sitting with his legs spread, jiggling his right knee up and down. Two-Bit was sitting sideways in his chair with his feet up, leaning his arm on his knees as he chewed on a hangnail. Steve leant forwards, his elbows resting on his knees, his fingers linked as if he was praying. Sodapop was half-asleep on Darry's shoulder. Darry leant his head back on the wall behind him and stared blankly ahead at the clock on the wall opposite. It was nearly nine in the evening and they had been there since half five with no news. No news as to whether his parents were alive, wheelchair bound, comatose or dead. It was killing Darry to think about the last option. He never thought he would outlive his parents at such a young age. He thought about Johnny, Dally, Steve and Rosie. His parents were the only example of proper parents they ever had. Johnny and Steve's parents beat the crap out of them, Dallas' parents just didn't give a shit and all of Rosie's family were dead. This was it. This little band of misfits was all they had. These people were their family. And now they might be losing their parents.

A doctor appeared in a white coat like in the movies and his solemn face told Darry and Rosie all they needed to know. Mr and Mrs Curtis, the most wonderful people in the world, were gone. Forever. Sodapop started crying and that woke Ponyboy up. The kid was smart and he figured it out in a second, following his older brother into a fresh round of tears. Johnny and Two-Bit then started crying and, even though he wouldn't admit it to anyone who wasn't there, Steve let a few tears slip as well. Dally just stared at the floor in shock while Darry, whose hands were shaking, followed the doctor to fill out some paperwork and confirm the bodies. Rosie watched him leave while she comforted Ponyboy again.

None of the gang wanted to sleep anywhere else that night. Dally took the couch while Johnny curled up in the armchair and Steve and Two-Bit cuddled up to each other on the floor. Ponyboy, having cried himself to sleep again, was placed in Sodapop's bed for the night and Soda curled around him protectively, holding him close, a new wave of tears silently spilling over. Darry stripped to his boxers and climbed into his bed, lying on his side facing away from her. Without saying a word, Rosie toed her Converse off, slipped her jeans off and folded them up on the chair with her blue flannel shirt. She walked over to the bed and lifted the covers, sliding in next to him. She reached out and rolled him over into her arms where he began to, finally, cry.


	3. Don't Try To Fix Me I'm Not Broken

Rosie woke with a start as she heard a bloodcurdling scream and she and Darry shot out of bed, running to Ponyboy's room. Sodapop was behind them, scared for his life. The newly-fourteen-year-old was sitting up in his bed crying and Rosie sat on the edge of his bed and hugged him.

"Pony, you're safe. You're safe."

"I saw it. The crash; I was there in the car with them. Everything crumpled in and I couldn't breathe. There was this bright light," His voice shook and he started crying into her shoulder again.

"Ponyboy, are you wet?" Soda asked and they pulled back the duvet covers to find Ponyboy sitting in a puddle.

"I didn't mean to!" He sobbed. "I was so scared and it happened so fast!"

"It's okay Pony, it's okay." Rosie soothed, running her thumb over his cheek, before looking up at the older brothers. "Darry, Soda, could you take Pony to the bathroom and help him shower? I'll get this in the laundry." She said and they nodded before helping Ponyboy up and down the hall to the bathroom. Rosie stood and stripped the bed, carrying the wet sheets down to the laundry room in the basement.

Once he was cleaned up and in fresh pyjamas, Ponyboy climbed in beside Sodapop in Soda's bed. Soda wrapped his arms around him and Rosie kissed his cheek before patting Soda on the shoulder and turning the light off as she left the room, closing the door behind her. "He's fine. Soda's going to keep an eye on him." She said as she climbed into bed beside Darry.

"How did you know what to do?" He asked and she rolled onto her side to look at him, propping her head up on her arm.

"When my brother would come home from Vietnam on leave, he had really bad PTSD and he would have nightmares and wet the bed. I became used to cleaning him up and washing his bedsheets for him."

"Are you saying Ponyboy has PTSD?"

"Not necessarily. It's been a big shock for all of you." She said, reaching out and placing her hand on his neck. "People react to grief in different ways. Ponyboy's sensitive, we know this, so he's going to have a different reaction to you and Soda."

Darry sighed. "It's just hard. I didn't realise it would be so hard." He looked up at her. "How did you cope?"

"Well, I never knew my mother; she died giving birth to me, and my Dad committed suicide when I was four and at the time I didn't really understand what that meant, I just knew that Daddy was gone and he was never coming back." She bit her lip and sighed, shrugging slightly. "I think it's worse to lose them at your age because you've had time to know them and love them. But you have to understand that I'm not going anywhere. I love Soda and Pony because they're my brothers and I love you far too much that for me to leave you now would just be cruel. I mean it. I'm gonna be here for a while." Darry leant forward and kissed her.

"Good. Because I'm gonna need you." He said and she smiled, allowing him to pull her closer.

* * *

The funeral was surprisingly a big one. A lot of the greaser side turned up, remembering the kindness and honesty of Mr and Mrs Curtis, and there was almost a moment that Darry and Rosie thought there weren't going to be enough seats. Sodapop's girlfriend Sandy was there, wearing a sensible black dress and crying prettily, as was Steve's girlfriend Evie. Rosie stood between Ponyboy and Darry, in a black dress with a blazer over the top, her left shoulder soaked with Ponyboy's tears. Her fingers were threaded through Darry's, her thumb rubbing his comfortingly. Once the service was over and the coffins were lowered, everyone headed back to the Curtis house. Rosaline and the girls had prepared a spread for everyone and people filled the house, talking and laughing. Out of the corner of her eye, Rosaline saw Dallas slip out the back door and, after exchanging a look with Darry, she followed him. Dallas was sat on the back porch steps, smoking a cigarette and looking out over the garden. She sat down next to him and looked in the same direction as him, not saying a word. Neither of them spoke for a long time, Dallas' cigarette had long since burnt out and the butt lay on the concrete at the bottom of the steps, both were still looking out over the garden. Voices and laughter drifted out to them from inside but still neither one of them said a word. Dallas lit up another cigarette and inhaled the smoke before exhaling again.

"You're a good kid." He said, his voice soundly strangely loud after the long silence. "I can see why they liked you. They liked me too. Never understood why. Fuck. They didn't deserve to go like that, man. They were the closest thing I had to parents, proper parents. They treated me like their own kid too. Paid my bail when I got arrested. Cleaned me up after a fight. Made sure I'd had at least one meal to eat that day. Why, why did they do that? Jesus. It's so fucking unfair. So fucking unfair. Why do people like my old man and Johnny's parents and the fucking Socs get to live and great people like them have to die?" He took another drag of his cigarette and shook his head. "So fucking unfair." Rosie didn't say anything in response, but simply laid her head on Dallas' shoulder. In front of them the sun began to set on the day that sealed the fate of everyone in the Curtis gang. Mr and Mrs Curtis were gone and they were playing the adults' game now.


End file.
